Janus Henderson Group PLC Sells 257,721 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Janus Henderson Group PLC lowered its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,512,049 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 257,721 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 1.34% of Lazard worth $76,178,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Claro Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 10,306.7% in the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $62,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,223,918 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 5,770.1% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $53,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,298 shares in the last quarter. Azora Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter worth $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $113,357,000 after acquiring an additional 206,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 2nd quarter worth $7,102,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of Lazard stock traded down $0.86 on Thursday, reaching $55.82. The stock had a trading volume of 626,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 931,122. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.96 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The company has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.58 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The business's 50 day moving average is $53.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.22.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $644.22 million. Lazard had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 42.20%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.27 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is currently 79.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAZ has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Lazard from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Lazard Company Profile

Lazard, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. It operates in two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advisory segment offers financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, shareholder, sovereign, geopolitical advisory, and other strategic advisory services, as well as restructuring and liability management, and capital raising and placement services.